I just picked up an '89 E250 Club Wagon XL, 138" wheelbase, with the 7.5 FI motor and C6. I don't know what axle ratio it has, but will check the tag shortly.

This rig was a heck of a deal, for only $600 it has front and rear a/c (cold), tilt, cruise, privacy glass, seating for 12, and many maintainence records. The interior is in great shape, the body fair, I'm buffing the paint tomorrow. The motor runs okay, but I'm definitely going to throw some plugs, cap, rotor, and wires at it. It has just over 100K miles on it. I'll probably throw a fuel filter at it as well. And I'm sure a belts and hoses would be in order, I want this to be spot on reliable.

My question is this: I want to pull my race car (with trailer, around 5000 lbs). I may also pull a 24" bumper pull trailer or a horse trailer. Where I live, hills are an issue, a 7% grade being one of the only ways out of town. I seem to have a lazy transmission shift, which I would bet could benefit from a shift kit. But other than that, where should I start on increasing the pulling power of this motor? Would a cat back system help much, or would I be better off going with a full dual exhaust system, or even shorty headers? Has anyone made modifications to a FI 460 with good results, I'd like to hear from you. I like this van, but want to just turn the wick up a bit.

Thanks

 

You need a towing shift kit, dual exhaust, no larger than 2 1/2" diameter, look into adding a power chip (beware Ebay cheap-o's), and 4.10 gears, you likely have 3.50's, that's the power lug. You may also be needing a fuel injection cleaning, not the pour in the tank stuff, this is in a can that goes directly in the injection rails on the engine, under the doghouse.
Put a reciever hitch and trailer brake module on it, you need trailer brakes to make it safe with those grades, not to forget, legal.

 

> I'll probably throw a fuel filter at it as well.

Make that will :-)

On my carb 351w/C-6 the linkage was loose and sloppy. So, I adjusted it till the C-6 gave a firm shift near WOT. I suspect you can do the same even with EFI.

 

Watch adjustments can be so drastic, they cause premature failure of the transmission.

 

Also add a transmission oil cooler! The stock thru the radiator isn't enough for towing.

 

All sorts of good ideas. As for the tranny cooler, there are two coolers in the front, one for the tranny, and I'm not sure what the other one is for, either for oil or the power steering. It doesn't use the radiator type tranny cooler, it's got a honking aftermarket one. Yes, a class III or IV hitch and a brake controller.

As for my soft shifting, and lack of kick down at WOT, I may have another problem alltogether...a clogged catalytic converter and/or muffler. At WOT, the tranny won't kick down and the motors power falls off, as if the motor is being choked off. On another section of these forums I posted the problem and the general consensus is a cat/muffler issue. I'll fix that first, and with the tune up, see how much an improvement is made.

 

Some exhaust shops have a back pressure tool to see if the cat cnvtr is clogged. They cost about $130.

 

Hmmmm...$130...on a $600 van. Not sure if that makes complete sense, although I'm told that I practically stole this van. Still, I have a three day weekend ahead, I may just drop the entire exhaust system, shake it, and listen for the tell tail rattling noise coming from the cat, the muffler, or both. Also, some shops use temperature difference from for and aft of the converter to determine a clog or obstruction.

I have talked to two muffler shops about the symptoms the van is displaying, both agree, I have a clog somewhere in the exhaust system. I'm wondering if fixing that, adding a better exhaust system aft of the converter, and maybe a better air filter, might be enough. But then again...is more ever enough!

 

Cat will not rattle, just replace it, many older ones have failed at 80,000 miles.

 

I could do that, but have you priced a cat lately? Some of the direct fit stuff is in the $400 to $650 range. Ouch! I'm wondering if one of the universal cat's would work, say one with a 2.5 inch inlet and outlet, welded to to the existing 4 bolt flange? They make them with the air tube, but I think mine has two air tubes.

Besides, I'm afraid that some of the pieces of the honeycomb may have lodged downstream of the cat and into the muffler.

Your thoughts?

 

Go with an aftermarket high flow cat, they improve power over stock, and are at $100, factory replacements are high, they are a wanted item used because they have platinum in them. Exhaust shops make money removing them, one shop stole one from a guys truck, he took it in for something, found later it was gone.
You can upgrade to no muffler or find a replacement if you fear the cat blew apart, those are the only places it could be, unless you have a resonator upstream of the muffler like I had.

 

Thanks, I couldn't figure out why the direct fit converters were so expensive, I can get a Magnaflow universal cat for less than $100. Since I'm planning on doing some upgrades on this van anyhow, I'll start with the better cat and a new (better flowing) muffler. I had intended on upgrading the exhaust, just hadn't planned on the cat as well, but if a universal will work, that will make it way more affordable. The Man Van will ride again!

 

The Platnum needed for factory cats has competition, rappers like it for grills toput in their mouth, yet doesn't have the same garbage filtering properties there.

 

Maples,

You mentioned in an earlier post about dual exhausts? If I went with a true dual exhaust, and "hypothetically speaking", didn't use catalytic converters at all, would the resultant change in back pressure mess up the EFI system? This is an '89, and I think on the vans at least, it's the older style MPI (speed density) that doesn't automatically compesate for changes like like the later mass air flow EFI found on like the '89 and later Mustangs?

In Idaho, we don't have emission inspections, so if I could use true dual exhausts and not have the check engine light come on because of some computer issue, and it did in fact help with the overal performance, I would rather go that way.

 

My van has dual cats, goes to a Y bringing it to single behind the cats and o2 sensors, but I went with a dual muffler, later I'll go with true duals, just not right now.